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All Rise...

Judge Patrick Bromley snapped two weeks ago.

Editor's Note

Our review of Ginger Snaps,
published November 21st, 2001, is also available.

The Charge

They don't call it the curse for nothing.

Opening Statement

The Canadian cult classic makes its high def debut in yet another outstanding
release from Scream Factory, the Criterion Collection of genre cinema.

Facts of the Case

Brigitte Fitzgerald (Emily Perkins, She's
the Man) and Ginger Fitzgerald (Katherine Isabelle, Freddy vs. Jason) are
sisters and outcasts in their Toronto high school. Known for being obsessed with
death and labeled "freaks" by their peers, the girls only have one
another to depend on. One night, they're attacked by some sort of giant animal.
Ginger is bit. From then on, things start to change for the Fitzgerald sisters.
Ginger takes a new interest in boys—in sex—in killing and eating
living things.

The Evidence

Part werewolf movie, part black comedy, part coming of age film, the best
thing that can be said about Ginger Snaps is that it's very much its own
thing.

This isn't a traditional werewolf movie. No one involved in its making was
interested in doing that. There are no full moon fears, no transformation set
pieces. Yes, the movie works as a horror movie in that a character is attacked
by a monster then slowly becomes one, killing people off along the way. But the
true horrors of Ginger Snaps are more psychological. It's a movie about
watching someone you love change and pull away from you. The movie is rarely
subtle about its central metaphor—puberty as lycanthropy—but that
doesn't make it any less effective. There are heavy shades of Buffy the Vampire Slayer running through
the movie (the TV show, not the movie), both in the way that it uses horror
tropes to stand in for the perils of growing up and navigating high school and
for the way it combines genre elements with a kind of sarcastic energy. It's not
derivative of Joss Whedon's show—each work comes by its own style
honestly—but if you're a fan of one it's a good indicator of whether or
not you'll dig the other.

At the center of the movie is the relationship between the two sisters,
played by Emily Perkins and Katherine Isabelle. The film would fall apart if
either actress weren't up to the challenge, but both manage to create wonderful
characters in very different ways. Isabelle has the "showier"
role—she gets to be the spunky rebel, then the sexy vamp and finally the
big, mean monster. She's less a performer here than a force of nature, and it's
easy to see how she would go on to bigger roles in things like American Mary and NBC's Hannibal. Perkins has the more difficult
job, as she has to play the meek introvert who finds she's much stronger than
she ever knew—though that's never explicitly stated, as it might be in a
lesser film. Perkins performance is also a good barometer of the movie's tone.
She has a specific wide-eyed stare that she uses often, sometimes for comic
effect and sometimes to express genuine horror. Whether you're laughing when she
does it or feeling sympathy is a good indicator of where the movie wants you to
be emotionally.

Ultimately, it's the sum total of their performances that make Ginger
Snaps special, as it is a movie about the relationship between the two
sisters. In that, the movie is quite successful. The "us versus the
world" dynamic created by the two actresses (and screenwriter Karen Walton)
changes the shape of the entire film, which could have easily been about a
traditional pair of sisters and held on to all of its puberty subtext but would
have lost so much of its resonance (without spoiling anything, the final image
in the movie is devastatingly heartbreaking). It's what gives the movie lasting
power beyond its own hook—even beyond the performances or the funny
sequences and enormous (practical!) monster creations. Ginger Snaps is a
horror movie with a soul.

Scream Factory brings Ginger Snaps to Blu-ray in a very solid 1.78:1
1080p transfer that's strong on detail, keeps colors vivid and balanced and
shows no major signs of wear or age. Two different lossless audio tracks are
offered: the first a traditional stereo and the second a remixed 5.1 surround
track that makes greater use of dimensionality and plays around more with
atmospheric effects and Michael Shields score. Both tracks are good, but I
prefer the 5.1.

The fantastic array of bonus features are kicked off by a pair of
commentaries, one from director John Fawcett and the second from screenwriter
Karen Walton. This is one of those instances where both tracks are well worth
listening to and contain very little overlap, with Fawcett giving a good
overview of his intentions and the production and Walton expounding more on the
film's themes, feminist overtones and where it fits into the genre as a whole
(though she begins the commentary by talking about how much she disliked the
horror genre, which may be off-putting for some in the first few
minutes—stick with it). The best extra is retrospective documentary on the
making of the movie featuring many of the major participants (though Isabelle is
notably absent). Scream Factory almost always includes these kinds of
featurettes, but this one runs more than twice the usual length (clocking in at
over an hour) and, as such, is able to go more in depth about the making of this
cult classic. There's a nearly-30 minute panel discussion of female-driven
horror movies, a short look at the creation of the wolf monster, an archival
featurette consisting of interviews, a short look at Fawcett working with the
actors and nearly 20 minutes of rehearsal footage.

Also included is nearly a half hour of deleted scenes, also playable with
commentary by Fawcett or Walton, as well as a collection of original trailers
and TV spots. A standard def DVD copy of the movie is also included, which
contains all of the same bonus features.

Closing Statement

Ginger Snaps became enough of a cult success to warrant two
sequel/prequels, Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning. As of
this writing, I have seen neither. For now I intend to keep it that way. Scream
Factory's excellent Blu-ray release has reminded me that this is a singular,
special movie. I prefer to leave the Fitzgerald sisters where they are.